When Alex Kelly, Stephanie “Jake” Pease and Megan Hinemeyer ended their collegiate playing careers this past season the Lipscomb Lady Bisons lost more than a string of impressive stats producers. They also lost much of their leadership.

Friday afternoon the Lady Bisons beat Tennessee Tech from the Ohio Valley Conference 3-1 (25-8, 19-25, 27-25 and 25-10) in the Lipscomb Invitational at Allen Arena. Tonight at 7:30 the Lady Bisons will play Charlotte, a 3-2 loser to Arkansas State in the first match of the invitational.

The Lady Bisons extended their home winning streak to 28 matches, the third longest in the nation. While he is looking for more wins Lady Bisons coach Brandon Rosenthal knows his team must have leaders step forward.

“The youth of the team is one thing, but the leadership part is the big part especially if we struggle a little bit,” Rosenthal said. “A lot of it is on me. I have to have patience and relax.

“Leadership is one of those skills we probably underestimated. You can’t just turn it on and off. Leaders are built.”

Leaders have to step forward. It is difficult to force someone into a leadership role.

“I guess you can, but a lot goes into having leadership abilities,” Rosenthal said. “We have been addressing it since day one. We are moving forward.”

Rosenthal and assistant coaches Samantha Sullivan and Pease are working on ways to develop leadership on the team.

“When Jake was a player she was always a leader by example,” Rosenthal said. “She was a quiet leader. When you looked across the court you were glad she was on your team. You knew everything was going to be all right.

“What we are trying to do is instill that in our players. We want to empower them.”

The Lady Bisons have played four matches in the young season. Leadership will develop through experiences.

“We have to realize it is not about right now,” Rosenthal said. “We want to go after it, but we realize we are going to make mistakes.

“What we have focused on is working hard. When we deserve to win we will.”

Junior outside hitter Kaycee Green continues to pace the Lady Bisons in kills finishing with a match high 16. Also in double figures in kills was senior middle blocker Katie Rose with 13 and senior opposite Charlyn Ursell with 10.

Rose posted a .500 hitting percentage followed by Ursell at .421 and Green at .345.

Sophomore libero Stephanie Rex tied for the match high in digs with 10.